How To: "The Riehle Mod" Beer Holder!! for 1st Gen

8463 Views 58 Replies 36 Participants Last post by Pendorchu, Jan 13, 2015

RATTFINK

Discussion Starter · Feb 24, 2011 (Edited)

Have you ever sat a beer on your rear bumper while working on your X with the hatch up and the music blaring? Did you forget that your beer was still on the rear bumper before you SLAMMED your hatch door shut???

I HAVE!!!!...

Luckily, I came across the most excellent mod I have ever seen to relieve the agony of losing a beer...

This mod is called "The Riehle Mod", which came from "Riehle" on The New X at thenewx.org.

The Riehle Mod is where you take your rear corner (plastic) bumper and cut a hole in it and attach a PVC pipe w/ drain, to hold a tasty beverage

"The Riehle Mod" Beer Holder for the 1st Gen. Us 1st Gens have less surface area to work with; but all of the info. below can be used for the 2nd Gens as well.

Supplies needed:

3" PVC pipe

BEER

Composite drain plug

JB Weld or JB Kwik

BEER

Use JB Weld or JB Kwik for drain plug collar >> **Rev. 1

Spray paint of your choice. Krylon & Rustoleum are good brands.

Annnd BEER

Tools needed:

Phillips head screwdriver. A midget screwdriver works best, especially when you have to remove the bumper from the wheel well.

3.5" hole saw w/ auger bit to attach to drill

Handsaw or pipe cutting saw

PVC heat gun. I used a Hot Glue Gun... I'll explain why in the caption.

Dremmel and 100-180-320 grit sheets

3.5" Hole Saw

3.5" Hole Saw w/ 3/8" auger bit

Hole Saw on drill

24" long piece of 3" PVC pipe, composite drain plug, & JB Weld **>> REV. 1 (DO NOT use PVC cement)

Fist things first... prep the area around the hole/surface of bumper cleaning & sanding. Removing any previous paint or cleaning product will allow the JB Weld to adhere a lot better.

Now, you need to find the center of the hole you are going to cut. I placed the hole saw on the bumper (w/o auger bit) and inserted a marker through the center hole of the hole saw to mark the center.

Once I had the center marked, I took a smaller drill bit and made a pilot hole, then I put the auger (w/o the hole saw) on the drill and made a larger hole... to act as a guide, for when I actually used the hole saw.

First pilot hole

Second pilot hole, using the auger bit

Forgot to take a pic of the hole (alone), but you get the idea LOL...

Once the hole was cut I put the PVC pipe through and marked the highest spot with a permanent marker and measured down 5.5", then I used the marker and traced around the pipe using the hole as a guide. After this, I cut the pipe with my handsaw.

Once I had the pipe cut to where I liked it, I attached the composite plug using JB Weld/Kwik. **>> REV. 1 (DO NOT use PVC cement)

Pipe in hole... duh

DRINK BEER!!

"Welded" where the pipe met the underside of the bumper to hold it in place, w/ the hot glue gun.
/// DO NOT DEPEND ON THE GLUE AS A PERMANENT SOLUTION, this is just to hold the pipe in place for now. \\\

DRINK BEER!!

Applied the JB weld to the top, filled in any gaps I had, & smoothed the surface.

After the JB Weld dried*, I used the Dremel to sand down the JB weld and the PVC to smooth everything out.
*JB Kwik will dry in 4 minutes. I used the regular JB Weld, which took 4hrs.

DRINK BEER!!

Removed some of the glue and globed on JB Weld to the underside to provide a better attachment that will last.

While that was drying, I spray painted the bumper and beer holder, then slapped her back on the X.

DRINK BEER!!

And there you have it The best mod known to man

Note: the bottle/pipe are at an angle on my 1st Gen bumper. I tried to get the pipe to go vertical; however, the 1st Gen corner bumper geometry is wicked compared to the second gen... Hey, it works as a place to put my beer while I am working, camping, tailgating etc

ENJOY!!

EDIT: Cleaned up and painted on page 4.

**>> = Revised (Rev. #)

Top Contributors this Month